Love, Dimitri
by autumnrose2010
Summary: AH. Rose is the widowed mother of two young children. Dimitri is the security guard who saved her when she was attacked in the parking lot of the hospital where she worked as a nurse. They'd met briefly ten years before but had to part. Now that they've found one another again, will love blossom for them?
1. Reunion

I was almost all the way to my car when it happened. Suddenly someone grabbed me from behind, his hand covering my mouth. I tried to struggle, but he was too strong.

The next thing I knew, I was free. Someone else had pulled him off me and now held a gun in my attacker's face. "I wasn't gonna do anything to her," the man who'd attacked me whined.

"No, you're not," my rescuer said fiercely. In the dark I couldn't make out his features, but I could see that he wore a security guard's uniform. "Are you all right?" he asked me. He had a slight Russian accent, and my heart began to beat faster as I realized that his voice sounded familiar.

"I...I think so," I stammered. "He just scared me real bad, that's all."

"Rose?" His voice was full of wonder.

"Do I know you?" I asked.

"Don't you remember?" He laughed. "It's me, Dimitri!"

_Dimitri. _I'd said good-bye to him ten years ago. I'd met him when he'd ended up practically on my back doorstep quite by accident. He'd befriended my brother Adam and his friends, and I'd taken care of his injured arm, but then he'd had to return to his home in Russia. At the time, I'd thought I'd never see him again.

"But how...how did you get back here?" I stammered.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you another time. Are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm positive," I told him. "I need to get home to my kids."

"Kids?" He looked disappointed.

"I'm a single Mom," I explained.

"Oh." He looked relieved. "Well, take care, and I'm sure I'll see you again soon." He gave me that enchanting smile I remembered so well and returned to his duties, and I drove home, still shaken a bit from what had almost happened to me but thrilled to have seen Dimitri again.

Upon returning home, I paid the babysitter, Penny, and went to check on Sage and Meadow before getting ready for bed myself. Four-year-old Sage lay sound asleep underneath his Power Rangers quilt, clutching his pillow tightly, and fourteen-month-old Meadow lay curled in her crib with her thumb in her mouth. I kissed them both lightly on the cheek before going to my own bedroom.

As I drifted off to sleep, memories of my first encounter with Dimitri returned to me. In his sailor suit, he looked so adorable, and with his longish dark brown hair swept back, his deep brown eyes, I'd fallen for him right away. In the brief amount of time we'd had together, we hadn't been able to get to know one another very well, but I'd become quite fond of him, and felt sad when he'd had to say good-bye. I'd watched until I couldn't see him anymore, hoping deep inside that I'd see him again someday.

Now I couldn't wait to find out what had brought him back to the United States.

'


	2. Change Of Plans

"Is this seat taken?" asked a male voice near me. My heart skipped a beat when I turned to see Dimitri's smiling face.

"Now it is." It was the following day, and I was eating lunch in the hospital cafeteria. My morning tasks had pushed the reunion with Dimitri out of my mind, but now it came to the forefront once again.

"So, how has your morning been?' he asked as he sat across the table from me.

I grimaced. "I helped sew up a kid who fell off a bicycle and needed stitches, mopped up vomit and blood, started three IV's, and did two surgical workups. How's yours been?"

He laughed. "Not quite as exciting as yours. I prevented a vending machine from falling over onto a kid. He got mad because it took his money and didn't give him a candy bar and tried to push it over."

"I'm glad I don't have your job."

"And I'm glad I don't have yours." We both laughed.

"So, tell me about your children." He was serious again.

I brightened. "They're great kids. Sage is four, and Meadow just turned one. Sage just started four-year-old kindergarten. He likes it so far. Meadow just learned to walk not too long ago."

"And what about their father?"

"His name was Jeff. He was killed in a car crash almost a year ago." I remembered it as if it were yesterday. Jeff had been drinking, and I could tell that he was in no shape to drive. I'd begged him not to go, but he'd angrily pushed me away and told me to leave him alone. The police had shown up with their sirens flashing only about a half hour later or so. Jeff had hit a telephone pole going about eighty miles an hour and had been thrown through the windshield.

They'd asked me to come to the morgue and identify the body. Jeff's face had been so mutilated that it had barely been recognizable, and there had been blood and pieces of glass sticking out everywhere. It was the worst thing I'd ever seen, and it had given me nightmares for months.

"I'm so sorry," said Dimitri.

"What about you?" I asked him. "Have you ever been married?"

He shook his head. "I came close, once," he told me. "Her name was Evgenia. I met her in the grocery store one day, and it was love at first sight, just like it was for you and me. The line was unusually long that day, and by the time we got to the front, I felt as if I'd known her all my life. I asked her to marry me only a few weeks later, but on the day we were supposed to be married, she never showed up at the church. Later, I'd found out that she'd eloped with my friend, Sidor. It was not long after that that I lost both my parents. That was when I started thinking about coming back to America. I thought that perhaps it would help me to put my grief behind me, and I also thought that maybe, just maybe, I'd even see you again. I never forgot you, Rose."

"I never forgot you, either." By then my lunch break was up, so I had to go back to work. The time we'd spent talking together had seemed much too short.

After that, I began to see Dimitri around the hospital frequently. We made plans to get together and take the kids to the zoo on the next day we both had off together.

* * *

The night before we planned to go out together, Meadow developed a slight cough. I gave her Tylenol and cough syrup, and her coughing eased, but the following morning, I noticed that her skin was warm to the touch. With a sinking feeling, I realized that I was probably going to have to cancel out on the trip to the zoo and take her to the pediatrician, Dr. Tanner.

I was still agonizing over what to do when Dimitri arrived, dressed smartly in jeans and a light blue polo shirt. "Sorry I'm a bit early," he said sheepishly, noticing the cereal bowls still sitting on the table. "I suppose I was a bit eager."

"Who are you?" Sage demanded.

"Dimitri," Dimitri told him.

"I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to have to change our plans," I told Dimitri. "Meadow seems to be coming down with something."

His smile evaporated, to be replaced with a look of concern.


	3. Bronchitis And Tree Frogs

"Poor baby," he said. "Well, that's all right. We'll just have to do it another day, then." It broke my heart to see how disappointed he looked, and I felt sad about losing a chance to spend time with him.

"You don't have to leave right away," I told him. "It might be a couple of hours before I can get her in."

As it turned out, Dr. Tanner's nurse said that he could see Meadow right away, so I told Dimitri that I had to get both kids ready and leave. "Why don't we all go together?" he suggested.

"Oh, I couldn't ask you to spend your entire day off sitting in a waiting room!" I exclaimed.

He grinned. "You're not asking. I'm offering."

"I'm afraid it won't be nearly as much fun as the zoo would have been."

"It doesn't matter so much to me what we do, as long as we do it together," he replied.

"Well, in that case, how can I refuse?" I laughed, overjoyed that I'd get to spend the morning in his company, after all.

We had to take my car because the car seat was in it, and when we arrived, the waiting room was so crowded that poor Dimitri had to stand. After awhile, it cleared out enough that he was able to sit down. In spite of what I'd been told over the telephone, we had to wait a couple of hours for Meadow to be seen. It turned out that she had bronchitis, so we had to stop by the pharmacy to pick up antibiotics for her on the way home.

"It sure would be a nice day to take the kids to the park," Dimitri commented wistfully on the way home. "But I know that your little one doesn't feel well and you'd like to get home with her as quickly as possible."

We went through the McDonald's drive-through, and he bought meals for all of us. Then we went back to my apartment, where I gave Meadow her medicine and then put her down for a nap. Then the two of us ate and talked while Sage played with his toy trains.

"So, how's your brother?" Dimitri asked me. He'd actually met my brother Adam before he'd met me. Adam and his friends had found Dimitri washed up and stranded on the beach, where they'd befriended him and helped him to find his friends.

"He's doing all right," I told him. "He graduated high school five years ago. He works in a supermarket now. I can't wait to tell him you're back. He'll be so excited!"

I'd actually had a very selfish reason for putting off telling Adam that I'd found Dimitri again. I'd simply wanted to keep him all to myself for a little while before sharing him with anyone else, even my family members.

Dimitri ended up staying for most of the day. I cooked dinner for him, and he stayed and talked some more for a long time after that, until it was time for me to get the children ready for bed.

"Well, I'm awfully sorry the trip to the zoo didn't work out," I told him as I walked him to the door.

"That's all right," he told me. "The zoo will always be there. We can go anytime."

"Thanks for being such a good sport about it," I said.

"Hey, no problem at all!" he replied.

The next time we both had the day off, it was raining cats and dogs. I stood at the window for the longest wondering whether he'd even show up at all, until he appeared in a rain slicker underneath which he carried two DVDs, 'Aladdin' and a nature thing with bears and foxes. When the rain finally stopped, he took Sage outside to look for tree frogs.

"You're so good with him!" I exclaimed when they came back inside later with their three croaking prizes in a plastic shoebox with holes for air poked in the top.

"I've always loved children," he told me. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to have any of my own."

"But why?"

He made a face. "Ice hockey injury. I got hit right in the...well, you know." He blushed.

"That sure must have hurt like hell."

"I thought I was going to die."

"And you never got checked afterwards to see if there was any permanent damage?"

He grimaced. "Well, it would have been kind of...embarrassing, you know? To ask a doctor to check you in that particular place...I suppose I was kind of afraid of what I might find out anyway...but I really do want to be a father some day, very badly."

"Well, I hope that you can become one some day," I said softly, suddenly feeling very sorry for him.

"I hope so too," he said. "You know what? I'd love to take you out for a nice dinner somewhere romantic, just the two of us. Do you realize that we haven't even been out on a proper date yet?"

"I know, and I'm sorry..."

"Hey, nothing to be sorry for. I've really enjoyed every minute I've spent with you and your kids, but do you think you could get a babysitter every now and then?"

"Well, of course! That wouldn't be a problem at all!"

"Great! See you later, then!"

I watched him go, thinking about how lucky I'd been to find a man like him.


	4. Shattered

I had to go back to work the following day. As it was a gorgeous day with a brightly shining sun and blue skies, I decided to eat lunch outside rather than in the hospital cafeteria. I was pleasantly surprised to be joined by Dimitri several minutes later.

"So tell me about yourself," I said to him. "You know a lot more about me than I know about you."

"Well, I was born in Baia," he began. "My father's name is Ivan and my mother's name is Olena. I have an older sister named Karolina and two younger sisters named Sonja and Viktoria. I joined the Russian navy right after school. After that, I was with the police force for a few years, and then when I immigrated to the United States, I became a security guard. That's what I've done since then."

"So you're the only boy in your family."

"Yes, I'm definitely in the minority." He laughed.

"Did you like that?"

"Being the only boy? It was all right, I suppose. I never really thought about it."

"I didn't like being the only girl. I always wished I had a sister."

"You can borrow one of mine anytime you like." We both laughed. "So your little brother works in a supermarket now?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I have to do some shopping there after work today anyway. Want to go with me?"

He grinned. "Sure!"

He never met me after work that day as we'd planned. I waited thirty minutes for him, then went shopping and then home alone, apologizing to the babysitter for my lateness.

I didn't see Dimitri around the hospital at all for a long time after that, not even in the cafeteria. Once I saw him briefly at the end of a hallway and, desperate to talk to him, hurriedly pushed my way through until I was within hearing range. "Dimitri!"

He glanced up, seeming surprised to see me. "Rose?"

"Where have you been?" I asked him. "I haven't talked to you in ages!"

"Uh...sorry, but I can't talk right now. I'm really in a hurry." He looked flustered. Crestfallen, I watched him hurry away.

_What did I do? _I asked myself for the rest of that day. He'd seemed so happy to see me again, and we'd had so much fun together, and now he acted as if he didn't even want to talk to me...

Between my job and caring for Sage and Meadow, I didn't have much time to dwell on the matter, but there was an emptiness in my heart, a hole where a presence had once existed but was now gone.

Until the night my world came crashing down.

The evening started out pleasantly enough. My best friend, Lissa, knew how depressed I'd been about Dimitri and had taken me on a girl's night out to cheer me up. We'd hit the mall and done some shopping, then went to a movie and then a dance club.

As we sat sipping our drinks and talking together, this cute guy asked Lissa to dance, and while watching the two of them on the floor, I saw something that completely shattered me.

Dimitri was dancing with a co-worker of mine, Tasha. They held one another closely, and she moved her body seductively against his. They gazed lovingly into one another's eyes as they kissed.

Desperately I wanted nothing more than to be away from there. As soon as Lissa finished dancing with the cute guy, I picked up my purse and headed for the door. "I'm getting out of here right now," I muttered. She hurried after me.

"Hey!" she protested as soon as we were outside in the cool night air. "I was just getting to know that guy! I think he was about to ask for my phone number!"

"Didn't you see them dancing together?" I asked.

"Who?"

"Dimitri and Tasha, that's who!"

"No! Were they really?" she gasped. "Oh, Rose, I'm so sorry!"

I went home and cried myself to sleep that night.

Determined to confront Dimitri, I patiently waited for a chance to talk to him alone. I got it several days later, when I saw him entering the same hallway as before from the parking lot and cornered him. "We need to talk."

His eyes darted back and forth like those of a trapped animal.

"I saw you with Tasha at the club last Saturday night."

"Yes."

"Well?"

He sighed. "Things were just moving too fast between us, Rose. I'm not ready for the kind of relationship you want. To step into the role of substitute father just isn't for me, at least not right now. I want to have fun and not have to worry about canceled dates and being home in time for the babysitter."

"But you said you loved kids!" I was near tears.

"I'm sorry, Rose." He walked away and left me standing there alone. Tasha was waiting for him, and he smiled as he took her hand and they walked away together.


	5. The Night Everything Changed

Numbly, I finished my duties for the day and then went back home to Sage and Meadow. I felt like a part of me had died. What we'd had together had seemed so natural, so right. How in the world had it gone wrong? Was it something I had or hadn't done?

"Why do you look so sad, Mommy?" Sage asked me that evening.

"I just feel a bit down because Dimitri isn't going to be coming to visit us anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because he found another lady that he likes better than me."

"Then he's stupid!" Sage exclaimed. "You're the bestest lady in the whole wide world, Mommy!"

"Thank you, sweetie." Touched, I took him into my arms and held him tight.

I cried myself to sleep that night.

For days afterward, I did my best to avoid running into Dimitri. I took different routes in and out of the hospital and tried to stay away from the places where I knew he liked to hang out. For several weeks I was lucky. Then came the night everything changed.

I was working in the emergency room when several paramedics burst in with a stretcher. "A security guard was beaten and knifed in the parking lot!" one of them shouted.

As the stretcher whizzed past, I was able to see the victim's face and, to my utter shock, saw that he was Dimitri. His face was as white as a sheet, and his eyes were closed. Right away several of my co-workers began working on him, hooking him up to IV's and various machines.

Irresistibly, my eyes were drawn to the stack of bloody clothing that had been hurriedly cut from Dimitri's body. I noticed that his pants were on top. Seemingly of their own accord, my legs made their way over to the pile, and I reached for the pants.

In one pocket I found his wallet, which contained several dollar bills, some change, and his driver's license. The wallet also contained a couple of condoms still in their wrappers and an empty condom wrapper. _He's sleeping with her._The realization cut like a knife as involuntary tears sprang to my eyes. He'd never even so much as made a pass at me.

Hurriedly I stuffed everything back into the wallet and the wallet back into Dimitri's pants pocket. I suddenly felt as if I were suffocating. Desperate for fresh air, I raced for the emergency room exit and dashed out into the cool night air, which I greedily inhaled in grateful gulps.

Who on earth would do a thing like that to a nice guy like Dimitri? I asked myself. Robbery obviously hadn't been the motive, as his wallet with the money in it had still been in his pocket. As it turned out, I didn't have to wait very long at all for the answer.

Rounding a corner, I saw a couple of fellow nurses standing underneath a tree smoking cigarettes. One was Tasha, and the other was a woman named Darcy. Pretending to be busy tying my shoe laces, I could hear every word they said.

"I never dreamed he'd do a thing like this!" Tasha exclaimed. "I never would have messed with Dimitri if I had!"

"Well, at least your little scheme worked!" Darcy chuckled. "It made him jealous, all right!"

"Don't laugh!" Tasha was almost shouting. "What if Dimitri dies?"

"Then it'll mean a murder rap," Darcy said uneasily. "I guess you'll just have to visit him in prison then, and hope it's one that provides conjugal rights."

"It _better _had!" Both women laughed.

Sick to my stomach, I made it to the nearest trash can just in time. I waited until my stomach settled and then returned to duty.

Dimitri didn't regain consciousness for the rest of my shift. When it was over, I returned home with very mixed feelings about what had just happened. As cruel as it might have seemed, a part of me felt glad that Tasha had been just using Dimitri. I _am _only human, after all. Another part of me worried that Dimitri might not make it. If he did, I didn't know what I should do. Should I just ignore him, pretend that he didn't exist, try to find someone else to fall for? No, I didn't think I could do that. Yet hadn't he made it clear that it was over between the two of us? How could what had happened with Tasha change that?

Exhausted, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I forgot to set the alarm, and so Sage was late for kindergarten the next morning. I had to drive him there myself and sign him in. Then I took Meadow to the park for a couple of hours, went to McDonald's for lunch, and then went back home to take a nap.

The sitter arrived at two thirty, and I left for the hospital, wondering what condition I'd find Dimitri in when I got there.


	6. The Fight

I arrived at the hospital to find that Dimitri's condition hadn't changed. All his vital signs were stable, but he was still unconscious. I gazed at him lying there so still, hooked up to all those machines. Would he ever laugh or smile again? If he did ever regain consciousness, would he even remember who he was, who the people around him were? The thought of the man I'd once dreamed of sharing my life with lying in bed a vegetable was simply too much for me to take.

I was eating lunch outside when I saw Tasha walking past and suddenly felt furious. The man whom I'd found myself falling in love with could be brain damaged for life, and it had all been for the sake of a childish game of trying to make her real boyfriend jealous. I was so angry I could barely see as I ran to her and yanked her hair so hard that I pulled her onto the ground.

"Hey!" she protested. "What did I ever do to you?"

"If Dimitri Belikov dies, it will all be your fault!" I shouted as I pummeled her over and over again. "It will be just as if you'd killed him yourself!"

"I had nothing whatsoever to do with what happened to Dimitri Belikov, you crazy bitch!" she shrieked.

"Liar!" I screamed, scratching her face, trying to claw her eyes. "I heard what you told Darcy!"

"Hey!" A couple of security guards came over to us and separated us.

Even after I explained to the hospital administrators what I knew about what Tasha had done to Dimitri, I still ended up suspended from work for a week...without pay.

Wondering how on earth I'd get the bills paid and buy groceries now, I drove back home to my children. I sent Penny home. Meadow was taking a nap, so I had some time to think for awhile before Sage got home from kindergarten.

Although Tasha had clearly deserved it, and worse, I had to admit that my actions had been impulsive and childish. I'd let my feelings for Dimtri momentarily derail my common sense. I'd never before been in the slightest bit of trouble at work, not even a reprimand, and here I'd gone and risked losing my job over a man who probably didn't even deserve it, considering how he'd treated me.

Meadow had awakened, and her soft babbling roused me out of my pool of remorse and self-blame. "Mama!" she cried happily when she saw me.

"Hey, sweetie!" I greeted her, lifting her from her crib and giving her a soft kiss on the cheek.

It was almost time to pick Sage up from the bus stop, so I changed Meadow's diaper and put her in her car seat and drove to the end of the street. A few minutes later, a small bus pulled up and opened its door, and Sage stepped down holding a giant letter 'E' cut from red construction paper.

"Mommy, you're home!" he cried happily when he saw me.

"That's right!" I said with a smile. "I have a vacation from the hospital, so I get to spend more time with you and your sister this week."

"Hurray!" he exclaimed. "We learned about the letter 'E' today, Mommy."

"That's nice," I mumbled.

"Elephant, elephant," he sang all the way home.

Despite my distress over the loss of income and my concern over Dimitri, I managed to enjoy a relaxing evening with my children. We watched Sesame Street and Barnie together, and I made meatloaf and macaroni and cheese for dinner. Then I gave them their baths, read them bedtime stories, and tucked them into bed. Watching television alone later, I was left to wonder what on earth I was going to do with myself for a week.

Upon my return to work a week later, the first thing I did was to inquire about Dimitri. I was told that he'd regained consciousness and been moved to a private room.

I debated whether or not to visit him for only a moment. Curiosity over what condition I'd find him in quickly overcame my hesitation. My heart was pounding as I slowly opened the door to his hospital room to find him awake and sitting up in bed, watching television.

As soon as he saw me, his face turned bright crimson and he looked down. "Hello, Rose," he mumbled.

Awkwardly I sat down in a chair beside his bed. "I'm so sorry about what happened to you." I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"It wasn't your fault," he muttered. "It was mine. I've been sitting here wondering to myself how in the world I could have been so stupid."

"So you know." I was immensely relieved that I wouldn't have to be the one to tell him.

"Yeah," he said softly. "They caught the guy. I'm probably gonna have to testify at his trial, even though I can't remember a thing. One minute I was just standing there minding my own business, and the next I was waking up here with one hell of a headache."

"What about Tasha?"

He sighed heavily. "They told me she quit." He sounded as if he were about to cry. "Are you all right, Rose?"

"What do you mean, am I all right?" Suddenly I felt very angry at him. "First you string me along and then dump me for that slut, and then you nearly get yourself killed!" By now I was almost crying myself.

"I'm sorry, Rose." His eyes didn't meet mine. "I never meant to hurt you. It's just that the whole substitute father thing started making me feel overwhelmed. Tasha didn't have any responsibilities. With her, I could just have fun and not have to worry about anything. I never even realized how immature and selfish I was being. Can you ever forgive me?"


	7. Flowers

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "You hurt me pretty badly, Dimitri."

"I know I did, and I'm really sorry!" In his eyes I could see the agony he felt, but I wasn't quite ready to let him off the hook. Not just yet, at least.

"Perhaps we could be friends," I suggested. "We _did _kind of rush into things, didn't we?"

"I'd be more than happy to be friends with you, Rose," he told me. "How are the kids?"

"They're all right. Sage is doing good in school. Meadow's growing fast."

"They're great kids, Rose. You're lucky to have them, and they're lucky to have you for a Mom."

"So how much longer do you have to stay here?" I asked.

"Not much longer, hopefully." He smiled for the first time since I'd entered his room. "They just have to make sure all the wounds are healed and there's no permanent damage."

"I'm really glad you're OK now, Dimitri," I said softly. "It scared me to death when they brought you in here. I was so afraid...so afraid you wouldn't make it. And then when I found out what Tasha had done, it just made me sick to my stomach!"

"Well, I guess I sure learned my lesson there." He chuckled ruefully.

I thought about the condoms I'd found in his pants pocket and suddenly imagined him making love with Tasha, their bodies entwined in the act of copulation, the ecstasy on their faces. Suddenly I wondered what kind of lover Dimitri was. I hadn't been with a man since Jeff had died. I missed having a sex life, but I wasn't the kind of woman to just have sex for its own sake. I was willing to wait until I felt a special connection with a man first, and I was disappointed that Dimitri apparently didn't share my values.

"Yes, I slept with her," he told me, as if he could read my mind. "But it wasn't my idea. She came onto me hard and strong, even did a strip tease right in front of me where she took _everything _off. A man can only take so much, you know."

I stared coldly at the wall, not saying a word.

"If it makes you feel any better, I didn't enjoy it at all," he continued. "It just felt so...unnatural, forced, as if it was something I had to do to make her happy. Not at all like I imagine it would be with you."

"My, aren't we getting presumptuous," I said sarcastically.

"You're right, Rose. I'm sorry. I had no right to say that."

"And I'm sorry I snapped at you," I said. "I didn't mean to sound so defensive."

"You have every right to be defensive," he replied. "You've just been hurt."

"Yeah," I said softly. We just sat there awkwardly for a few minutes, neither of us sure what to say next.

Dimitri finally broke the silence. "Friends?" He smiled that charming smile of his and extended his hand.

"Friends." I knew I never could have stayed mad at him for very long.

I visited him a couple more times after that. Both visits were brief but friendly, as we each stuck to non-serious topics. Then one day I went to his room and found that it was empty. The nurse on duty told me he'd gone home that morning.

Shortly afterward, he returned to his security guard position. I saw him frequently as I was entering or leaving the hospital, and he would always smile and nod in a friendly way. I saw him in the cafeteria a few times as well, but we never sat together. Once he looked at me for kind of a long time, as if he were longing to sit beside me but wasn't sure if it would be appropriate, then shook his head sadly and moved on. I almost felt sorry for him.

Soon it was time for Sage's kindergarten open house. I took off work and went with Sage and Meadow. It was a crisp fall evening, and the leaves were just beginning to turn red and yellow. I parked in the school parking lot, took Meadow's stroller out of the trunk, and strapped her into it. Then I walked with both kids to Sage's classroom.

Several of Sage's classmates with their parents were milling around in the classroom when I got there. Sage's teacher, Mrs. Edwards, smiled and said hello to us. She was a kindly middle-aged woman with short salt-and-pepper hair. She had grey eyes and wore spectacles and was dressed in red slacks and a red-and-yellow striped shirt.

"Your little sister is so precious!" she said to Sage. "What's her name?"

"Meadow," Sage told her.

"Oh, that's a lovely name!" she exclaimed. "Hi, Meadow!"

Meadow smiled at her but didn't say anything. "She's a little shy," I explained.

All along the wall, the children's artwork was on display. I looked over all the crayon-drawn depictions of the little old lady who lived in a shoe until I came to Sage's. He'd outlined the shoe in black and, rather than drawing stick figures as some of the other children had done, he'd given the woman and her half dozen or so children actual arms, legs, hair, and faces.

"Sage is doing extraordinarily well," Mrs. Edwards told me. "He can say all his ABC's and count to twenty, and he's also showing talent in both art and music. It's just a little hard to get him to settle down at nap time sometimes, and he also has a little trouble remembering to use his 'indoor voice' when he should, but we're working on that, aren't we, Sage?"

I was surprised to see that my friend Robin from high school was there with her husband and daughter. I hadn't seen her in several years.

"Rose!" she called to me.

"Hi, Robin!" I said, giving her a quick hug. "I had no idea your little girl was in Sage's class!"

She laughed. "It's a small world, isn't it? This is my husband Brian and our daughter Camryn."

"This is Sage, and my daughter's name is Meadow," I told her.

"Your husband couldn't make it tonight?" she asked.

"I'm a widow," I told her.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She looked terribly embarrassed.

"It's all right," I told her.

"So what do you do?" she asked me.

"I'm a nurse," I told her. "What do you do?"

"I'm a full time Mom for now," she told me. "But now that Camryn is in kindergarten, I'm trying to find something part time for in the mornings."

"Well, good luck," I told her. "If I hear of any openings at the hospital, I'll let you know."

"Thanks," she said.

I went home soon afterwards, idly wondering what it would be like to have the luxury of being a stay-at-home Mom.

* * *

A delivery of flowers came for me the following day. Surprised but elated, I automatically assumed that they were from Dimitri and couldn't wait to see him again so that I could thank him.

My chance came soon enough, as he was on duty the next time I went to work. "Dimitri!" I called to him. "Thanks for the flowers!"

He looked baffled. _"What _flowers?"

"Didn't you have flowers delivered to me?"

"No." He grinned. "I wish it _had _been me, but it wasn't."


	8. Brandon

But if Dimitri didn't send them, who did? I wondered. As it turned out, I didn't have to wonder for very long, as the next day I was headed for the lunchroom when I heard someone calling my name from behind. "Rose!"

I turned to see Brandon, one of the orderlies, running up to me. He hadn't been working at the hospital for very long, and I'd seen him around a few times but didn't know him very well. He was short and kind of pudgy, with dark brown hair and eyes and a baby face. I didn't find him attractive at all.

"Did you like the flowers?" he asked hopefully.

I gasped, shocked. "You were the one who sent the flowers?"

He nodded with a happy grin. Suddenly I felt sick to my stomach.

"Well...they were very nice. Thanks," I said politely, hoping that would get rid of him.

No such luck. "Say, would you like to go out to dinner with me this Friday night?" he asked me.

"I can't. I'm sorry," I replied.

"Aw, why not?" he whined like a child.

"I have plans," I told him.

"Well, you don't know what you're missing," he said.

I put the incident out of my mind and continued on with my business, giving it no more thought. That Saturday, Lissa and I went on a shopping excursion to this large outdoor mall in a neighboring town that was an hour's drive or so away. It was made up of lots of outlet stores, where you could find name brand clothing and other merchandise at bargain prices. Lisa and I went about once every six months or so, and I almost always came back with lots of great deals.

"So how did it go with Christian last night?" I asked Lissa as we rode along. Christian was the name of the guy she'd met the night I'd seen Dimitri dancing with Tasha.

"It went great!" she told me. "He took me to dinner and a movie, and then we went dancing." Her voice lowered conspiratorially. "He put his tongue in my mouth when he kissed me goodnight. I almost invited him in. I think I'm gonna end up sleeping with him soon."

"Well, you be careful," I cautioned her.

"I will, but I don't think I have anything to worry about with Christian," she told me. "So, how's your love life been?"

"Oh, I've gotta tell you!" I began. "Somebody sent me flowers last week, and I was sure it would turn out to be Dimitri, but it wasn't. Guess who it was!"

"Who?" Lissa's eyes grew round with curiosity.

"There's this guy named Brandon at the hospital. One of the orderlies. A total dweeb. Well, anyway, he asked me if I liked the flowers he sent. I couldn't believe it! I told him yes just to get rid of him, and he asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with him this weekend."

"No! You're kidding! And what did you tell him?"

"I told him I had a date."

"And did you?"

"Yeah, with this book I've been wanting to read for ages. I'd rather stay home and do something on my own than go anywhere with _him." _We both burst out laughing.

Soon we arrived at the mall. I hit all my favorite stores: the women's and children's clothing stores, the stationery store, the toy store, the sock store, two book stores, and the party supply store. For lunch Lissa and I went to the fast food restaurant next door rather than eating at the overpriced food court at the mall.

Overall, my shopping trip was successful. I bought three new shirts and two pairs of pants for myself, four new outfits for Sage, five for Meadow, nail polish, lip gloss, and ten pairs of earrings for ten dollars. In the CD store, I saw a copy of Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake' and, on impulse, bought it.

"I don't know what got into me," I said to Lissa on the way home. "I don't even _like _classical music."

"Maybe it reminded you of someone," Lissa teased me.

"Never!"

* * *

One day the following week, I had to run an errand to the basement. I always hated going down there because it was dimly lit and deserted and kind of creepy, especially since I had to walk right past the morgue. Hoping to get the chore over with as quickly as possible, I was hurrying down the hallway when I felt someone grab me and pull me back. The next moment I realized that, to my horror, I was alone in the morgue except for a sheet-covered body...and Brandon, who held my arm in a vise like grip.

"If you scream, I'll break your arm," he warned me.

Scared out of my wits, I began to whimper.

"Don't worry." Brandon stuck his face into mine and I smelled the onions he'd eaten for lunch. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm just gonna fuck you."

"The _hell _you will!" Swiftly I brought my knee up into his groin, and as he doubled over in agony, I pushed the gurney holding the body right into him. One arm fell to the side and dangled limply beneath the sheet covering it, but I didn't have time to scream. In a flash I was down the hall, up the stairs, and running the length of the hallway of the first floor, where I ran right smack into Dimitri, who was walking in the opposite direction.


	9. Another Side Of Myself

"Whoa! Rose!" Dimitri laughed as he grabbed both my arms and steadied me. "Are you all right?"

"Brandon...just tried...to rape...me..." I panted.

"He did? I'll kill him!" Dimitri exclaimed. "Where is he?"

"Downstairs...in the morgue..."

"Calm down, Rose. Calm down. You're safe now." As he embraced me and rubbed my back, I slowly felt myself begin to relax. After a few minutes, he led me to a small office and told me to sit down and rest. "Can I bring you a glass of water?" he asked.

"Please don't leave me!" I exclaimed. After what had just happened, I was terrified of being alone. What if Brandon somehow found me again?

"It's all right, Rose," Dimitri said soothingly, gently holding both my arms. "I'm not going to leave you, but we have to find out if Brandon is still inside the building so that he can be apprehended."

He called for a couple of his co-workers on his walky-talky thingy, and when they arrived, he sent them to the basement to find and apprehend Brandon, if he was still there. Then he had me fill out a form giving all my personal information and describing in detail what had happened.

In the meantime, my supervisor had found out about the incident and asked me if I wanted to take the rest of the day off. I was definitely too badly shaken to continue working my shift, so I took her up on the offer.

Somehow I made it home to my children. "Did you get in trouble, Mommy?" Sage asked me when he saw me.

"No," I told him.

"Then why did you come home early?"

"I...um...something really scary happened, and it made me so upset that I had to leave, but it's all over with now, and I'm fine. How was your day at kindergarten?"

"It was fun, Mommy! We learned about the letter 'U', and about how caterpillars turn into butterflies."

"That's nice."

I watched TV with the kids for a little while and then fixed dinner. I'd just put the last clean dish away when I heard the doorbell ring.

I knew it was going to be Dimitri before I checked the peephole. I opened the door and told him to come in.

"Dimitri! You came back!" Sage cried happily as he ran up to him.

"I had to," Dimitri told him. "I missed you guys."

"'Mitri! 'Mitri!" said Meadow.

"Hey there, princess!" Dimitri picked her up and kissed her cheek, then set her back down.

"Hey." He gently touched my cheek. "Are you OK?"

"As well as can be expected, I guess. Did they ever find Brandon?"

Dimitri shook his head. "We ended up having to call the police. If they find him, you may have to go down to the police department and give them a statement, like the one you gave me at the hospital." He shook his head. "I'm just so glad he didn't really hurt you, Rose. If he had..."

"Who tried to hurt my Mommy?" Sage demanded.

"A bad man at the hospital," Dimitri told him."But he's gone now. Your Mommy's safe."

Sage seemed satisfied with that answer.

"Would you like something to drink?" I asked Dimitri.

"No, thank you," he told me. "I'm fine." He sat on the sofa holding Meadow, with Sage sitting beside him. I sat on his other side. Suddenly it felt just like it had the day it had rained and he'd caught the tree frogs for Sage.

"You know, we never did take that trip to the zoo like we planned," Dimitri remarked.

"No, we didn't," I said, feeling a tiny stab of pain at the thought of why we hadn't.

"The next day we both have off," Dimitri said to me with a smile. "And this time, it had better not get messed up. If you still want to go, that is," he added hopefully.

"Sounds like fun!" I agreed. I still felt a bit apprehensive about leaving the house, but I knew that if I didn't fight back against that feeling, I could be left permanently crippled emotionally.

* * *

The police caught up with Brandon a couple of days later. He'd fled to a neighboring state. As Dimitri had predicted, I did have to go down to the police station to make a statement. They asked me if I wanted to press charges, and I told them that I didn't. He hadn't really hurt me, and I couldn't bear the thought of having to face him in court.

I told Dimitri of my decision when he called me that evening. Ever since Brandon had attacked me, he'd called me every day. Although I assured him over and over again that I was all right, he was still very protective of me. I didn't mind, as to me, it seemed a way of making up for what had happened with Tasha.

"Are you sure you don't want to press charges against him, Roza?" he asked me now. "It might would prevent him from being able to do it to another woman."

"I know." I sighed. "I suppose I'm being selfish," I told him. "But I just can't stand the thought of having to face him in court."

"Oh, I don't blame you," Dimitri said quickly. "If you don't want to face him in court, then you shouldn't have to. No reason to feel guilty about that."

"I just want to put the whole thing behind me," I sighed.

"You're a brave girl, Roza," he told me.

"I don't always feel that brave," I admitted. "Sometimes I feel really scared."

"Well, you know I'm always here for you," he assured me.

Later, after we'd said good-bye, I felt kind of disgusted at myself. Where had the tough-girl exterior I'd intended to present to Dimitri from now on gone? I couldn't believe that I'd just admitted to him that I felt scared. What would he think of me now? Would he consider me to be a weak, helpless female who needed a big, strong man to take care of me? I felt angrier than ever at Brandon for what he'd done to me, for the side of myself I was showing to Dimitri now.


End file.
